Ric Flair was out here this week, despite getting beat up by a bunch of cheerleaders last night. They aired footage of the pay per view last night (yes, you got that right) of the Spirit Squad beating down Flair after the match. He said he sent word to the Spirit Squad that he wanted all this to end and end tonight. Flair went to speak some more before the Squad came out to the top of the ramp. They did a little cheer about Flair needing to retire. They came down the ramp as if they were going to finally do in the Nature Boy.

The five lined up across from Flair before going to surround him. DX’s music hit and they came out to the ring and the Spirit Squad cleared out in a hurry. Michaels got down on his knees and praised Flair while Triple H shook his hand and hugged him.

Triple H got on the mic and asked everyone if they were ready. He said actually, no, he wasn’t ready. He said he was sick of fighting the Spirit Squad and asked how many times he’d have to beat these folks up? He told the crowd he was just as sick of beating them up as they were of watching it. He went to do his ‘suck it’ thing when the Squad jumped them from behind.

Ric Flair & DX v. The Spirit Squad

After a nice little brawl to start things off HBK tagged in Triple H who stalked Mikey into the corner and put the boots to him. Triple H hit an Irish whip and a lariat into the corner before tagging in Flair who landed some punches and chops. Flair whipped Mikey to the corner and hit a back body drop before tagging in HBK.

HBK came in and twisted up the arm before planting the youngster with a chop to the chest. He rammed his head off the buckle before having an Irish whip reversed, but was able to get a foot up. Flair came in only to get caught with a drop kick. The whole Squad began to mug Flair before DX jumped in and made the save, launching the entire Spirit Squad to the outside. Flair, HBK and Triple H styled and profiled as we went to commercial.

****Commercial****

We came back to Johnny controlling the action with a headlock on HBK. HBK hit a back suplex and was able to tag in Nicky just in time who came flying in with an axe handle. He mugged HBK in his own corner before tagging Mikey back into the match. Mikey hit a drop kick to HBK’s head and went for two covers and Michaels kicked out of both.

Mikey body slammed HBK and tagged in Kenny. Kenny hit some clotheslines and a little ‘offensive innovation’ with some clotheslines that floored Michaels. Michaels began to fight his way out of the Squad’s corner but was eventually tossed back in.

Mitch tagged in and hit a body slam of his own before going for the cover but Michaels kicked out. Kenny tagged back in and hit another body slam before Mikey went to the top but missed a wheelbarrow body splash. Triple H tagged in and cleaned house before tagging in Flair. Flair fought off the resistance he had and the two members of DX hit their respective finishers. Flair danced around and all three cinched in the figure four and got a triple tap out.

Winners: Ric Flair & DX via submission

Flair and DX gave a suck it to the pyro after the match.

Home Videos aired of the Hardy Boyz in their child hood. They’ll be getting a shot at the World Tag Team Championship against Edge and Randy Orton later tonight.

A recap of Survivor Series aired.

****Commercial****

DX was in the back dumping what looked to be Nicky into a box with a “Destination OVW” sticker slapped on it. They said the package could be delivered anytime within the next three to four weeks and that no one really gave a crap about what was in it anyway. Michaels got a little ‘emotional’ that it was the end of an ‘era’.

JR and King plugged the six-man elimination chamber this Sunday on Pay Per View. They put over the fact that the Hardy Boys had made an open challenge for the show on Sunday. Johnny Nitro popped up and said in the spirit of Reunions, he’d be bringing his buddy back, Joey Mercury. For one night, MNM will be back.

New WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James came out to the announcer’s booth. A #1 Contender’s Diva Battle Royal is next!

****Commercial****

#1 Contender Divas Battle Royal

The bell rang and the Divas all went at it. Victoria double clotheslined Candice and Torrie out of their socks while Melina worked over Maria on the canvas. Victoria killed Melina with a clothesline as well before dumping her like yesterday’s news to a big pop. Victoria used Torrie to ram Maria to the apron while dumping Torrie. She dispatched of Maria shortly thereafter before Candice went to work on her. Victoria landed on the apron and booted Candice clean in the face and dumped her to the outside to win.

Winner: Victoria

Victoria got in Mickie’s face after the match. She tossed Candice into the ring and hit and brutal Widow’s Peak to prove a point. The two stared each other down after the Widow’s peak.

A Hardy Boys ‘classic’ aired.

****Commercial****

Eugene v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Eugene smacked Duggan in the face before cowering in the corner. Duggan fought back with some punches to the face and a whip to the buckles followed by a hip toss and some body slams. Duggan slapped Eugene, returning the favor before back body dropping his opponent to the mat.

Duggan lined up the tackle but Eugene retreated to the outside. Duggan went to pull him back into the ring before Eugene yanked his neck down on the ropes before whacking his head into the ring post. Eugene gathered Duggan and hit a swinging neck breaker to get the pin.

Winner: Eugene via pin fall

Eugene grabbed the mic and told everyone he was special and told the people to stop laughing at him before going nuts on the fans on his way to the back.

DX were in the back and got held up by Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson. DX said they were working on a little ‘party’ for Flair later on. Rhodes and Anderson looked a little puzzled until Triple H talked about booze and broads. Ron Simmons showed up and gave us our weekly ‘damn’ before the eager senior citizens gleefully waltzed off to the back.

The Cutting Edge with a mystery guest is up next.

****Commercial****

The Cutting Edge

Edge verbally attacked DX before saying that it paled in comparison to the number of times he beat up the Hardy Boyz over the years. He said tonight’s victory would be dedicated to Lita. He introduced us to his special guest. The guest didn’t come out and Edge went off on professionalism and low and behold no one showed up. He said the people could forget it that they didn’t deserve the show and he was calling it quits right now. Randy Orton came out and said he had his guest right here and he needed that the guest was indeed his guest. Edge said he did everything /* around here so he’d do this as well. Edge came back and confirmed that it was his guest and it certainly was his guest.

Orton and Edge dragged a very bloody Ric Flair out to the ring. Flair was bleeding EVERYWHERE. He said this was the part where DX was supposed to make the save. He said they were cowards and bullies. Edge said DX didn’t care about Flair or the people and he was going to send a little message to DX. He grabbed some chairs and set them up on Flair and delivered a concerto to Flair’s broken head. Orton didn’t want to be upstaged and gave Flair a concerto of his own. The two walked up the ramp, leaving Flair in a bloody heap.

****Commercial****

Chris Masters v. Jerry “The King” Lawler

The two locked up and Masters hit a quick body slam but King avoided a follow up elbow. Masters hoarded Lawler to the corner and whipped him to the buckles twice but again missed another follow up. Masters stayed on Lawler cinching in a bear hug on the King.

Lawler bit Masters in the nose before hitting a nice looking drop kick that floored Masters. King dropped the fist from the second rope twice before going for a third. He connected again and Masters bounced into the ropes before coming off with a choke and rushed Lawler to the corner for a second time and landed some boots to the gut followed by a punch to the face. Masters hit a big back breaker on Lawler before putting the boots to him on the mat. Masters hit a kick to Lawler’s groin on the mat before setting up Lawler for a suplex and connecting. Masters mounted the second rope and went for the fist drop but missed it. Lawler popped up and landed some stiff left hands to Master’s face before dropping him with a right hand.

Masters came back with an eye rake and began choking Lawler on the top rope. Masters got ready for the Master Lock and clamped it in. King tried to break it but couldn’t. Just as he was about to pass out, Carlito’s music hit and he came out to the ring. Masters broke the hold to jaw jack with Carlito. Carlito spat some apple in his face and enabled Lawler to roll him up for the victory.

Winner: Jerry “The King” Lawler

Masters was irate after the match while Carlito laughed at him from the ramp while raising Lawler’s hand in victory.

An add for the “See No Evil” DVD aired.

****Commercial****

Another Hardy Boyz “Classic” aired, this time with highlights of their victory over Edge & Christian at No Mercy ’99.

Umaga came out to the ramp with Armando Alejandro Estrada. He said there were winners and losers, but only one man was unstoppable and showed the footage of Umaga decimating Team Cena at Survivor Series last night. He said he’s destroyed everyone in his path to date. He said therefore it was time for Umaga to become WWE Champion. Estrada said John Cena was being put on notice. He said as of right now, Umaga officially challenges him for the WWE Championship. He raised Umaga’s hand before John Cena’s music hit and he came out to the ring.

Cena snatched the mic out of Estrada’s hand. He said as for Umaga’s challenge, he accepts. The two stared each other down. Cena began removing his clothes as if to face Cena right here. Estrada pleaded with Umaga not to challenge him right now, imploring him to ‘pick his spot’. Umaga stepped out of the ring with his manager and the two stared each other down.

****Commercial****

JR and King were on the mic when we got back talking about the ‘inappropriate comments’ made by a certain ‘comedian’ over the past week that had everyone talking. A thing aired that had a Kramer impersonator doing a really lame comedy act. All of a sudden Cryme Tymes music hit and they came out to the stage. Kramer apologized to them and they slapped him five as if they were going to let it be. Big Shad booted him in the head once and got on the stick with JTG. They asked what the deal was with the Bloods and the Crypts. They did a little dance and walked off the stage. They came back to Kramer’s body and picked his wallet before leaving.

Edge approached Jeff Hardy and asked him if he saw the Ric Flair beat down from earlier tonight. He said he moved onward and upward. He was a two time WWE champion and broke his own Tag Team Championship record. He said Matt was the most overrated guy on the roster. Hardy said the only thing dragging him down would be the weight of two titles around his waist. Orton showed up and did nothing really before Matt walked in and asked if there was a problem. They told each other they’d see the other team in the ring.

****Commercial****

World Tag Team ChampionshipRated RKO v. The Hardy Boyz

Hardy and Orton started us off and Orton grabbed a side headlock. Jeff fought out but got flattened by a Orton shoulder block. Jeff came back with a hip lock take over and landed some punches on the third generation champion. Matt tagged in and cinched in a nice arm bar. He tossed Orton into the corner before tagging Jeff back in.

Orton countered the arm bar and pounded away on Jeff. Edge landed some right hands upon tagging in before sending him off the ropes. He got caught with a boot to the face but quickly came back with a clothesline. Edge made fun of Matt before landing a leg drop and tagging in Orton. Orton hit some straight right hands before putting the boots to Jeff on the mat with the good old Ronnie Graven stomp. Orton landed a knee and went for the cover but Jeff kicked out.

Edge tagged back in and landed another leg drop before hitting a standing drop kick and went for another cover. Jeff kicked out only to get caught in a deep back stretch. Jeff got the crowd behind him and fought to his feet only to be slammed back to the mat by the former two time WWE Champion. Randy Orton tagged in and choked Jeff out on the ropes before being admonished by the referee. Orton stomped away at Hardy before tagging in his partner again. Edge hit a punch to the gut and goaded the crowd a little before dragging Jeff to the corner and tagging in Orton.

The two sling shotted Hardy off the ropes but Jeff countered with a double DDT. Jeff tagged in Matt who came in and cleaned house on Orton and Edge. Matt sent Edge to the buckles and hit a bulldog while clotheslining Orton simultaneously. Jeff tagged back in and the two hit a double suplex. The Hardys mounted the ropes for the double leg drop, but Edge shoved Jeff to the outside. Orton fought Matt on the top rope but was sent back. Matt ate some big time canvas on the moonsault attempt before Edge got tagged in. Edge was looking for the spear as we went to commercial.

****Commercial****

We came back to Orton burying a knee to the gut of Matt Hardy. Edge tagged in and cinched in a sleeper hold on the mat. Matt fought out with some elbows to Edge’s gut before getting flap jacked to the mat by the champion. Edge went for a cover but Matt kicked out. Edge hit a kick to the ribs before using some elbows to back Hardy into the corner. Matt fought out with some rights of his own. Edge hit a drop toe hold and a quick tag to Randy Orton who came flying in with some nasty knees to Matt’s back. Orton hammered away at the mid section of Matt’s before dropping a knee drop on his face. He went for a cover but Hardy kicked out. He slapped on a sleeper of his own on the mat, hoping to wear the challenger down.

Edge tagged in and placed Matt on the top rope. Matt fought back with some elbows to the gut, sending Edge to the mat. Matt came off and hit the moonsault, but Orton came in to break up the cover. Edge tagged in Orton and was able to cut off Matt from making the hot tag. Orton landed some nice punches to the head before matt came back with some shots of his own. Matt gained the advantage before flipping out of a back suplex and made the tag.

Jeff came in and hit a string of clotheslines on Orton and an enzeguiri on Edge. Hardy hit whisper in the wind and went for the cover but didn’t get it. Matt came in and hit a side effect on Edge before the two hit a double side effect on Orton, but Randy kicked out at 2 and ¾.

Matt and Jeff set up for a top rope double team move and connected before Edge dragged Hardy off Orton on the cover attempt. Matt sailed over the top rope to take down Edge. They went for the old leap frog but Orton avoided it. Orton went for an RKO but Matt countered into a twist of fate. Jeff Hardy came sailing off the top rope with the swanton bomb, but Orton was saved JUST in the knick of time by Edge coming in and blasting Jeff with the tag team championship belt to cause the DQ.

Winners: Matt and Jeff Hardy via DQ

After the match, the champions hit an RKO and another blast to the face with the belts before celebrating in the ring much to Jim Ross’ displeasure.

RAW THOUGHTS

The Good-- The tag match was the best tag team match I’ve seen on Raw since the big six man tag we had back on Raw in 2004 before Wrestlemania. It’s the best tag match the WWE has seen in a long, long, long time, probably since the Angle/Benoit days. Sure, it’s not much to say it’s the tag match of the year in the WWE, but this was legitimately a great tag team match. Edge and Orton made those titles look SO important to them. The DQ ending wasn’t half assed either. Jeff Hardy, while I don’t think he can wrestle a single’s match for his life that doesn’t include a ladder, is one hell of a tag wrestler. Both Matt and Jeff play the babyface in peril roll well and really did a great job with it tonight. It was highlighted by Jeff and Matt’s high spots. They weren’t whored out, in fact they were teased multiple times. Orton and Edge looked sensational. This may be the best TV match I’ve seen on Raw this year.

Finally, we get a Championship program. That’s all I’m going to say for now. I’ll take what I can get these days. After two months of nothing, the WWE Championship is going to get feuded over again.

Holy smokes did Victoria look good tonight. She was really put over as a total monster tonight and finally, us fans get the women’s feud we REALLY want to see. This has the potential to be as good as Trish-Mickie, maybe better. Finally, there’s something to be legitimately excited about on the show.

The Bad-- I hate beating a dead horse (or a very over dead horse), but I’m just absolutely sick of DX in every respect. They got around 35 minutes of TV time again this week and to be honest, I’m just sick of all of it. The matches are paint by the numbers and the feud with Rated RKO has completely lost any steam it had. I don’t think, barring one or even two squeaky clean wins by Rated RKO will this get back to where Vince wants it to be. I’ll admit I’m shocked fans haven’t turned on this yet, but I can’t see how DX will maintain this kind of steam if we keep on getting the same stuff week after week.

The Eugene turn, while a very good idea in theory, can’t use this gimmick. Hating a retard isn’t going to work. Granted, Dinsmore did all he could to buy heat, and did a damn good job of it (like he did getting this character over to begin with), but I just don’t see it maintaining any heat without him dropping it and moving on to something more dastardly. I like the idea, but there’s just no way it can float with the gimmick.

The Ugly-- The Cryme Tyme segment just wasn’t all that funny. I honestly could care less about the whole Kramer incident. I’m not ‘offended’ by the fact the angle was done, and to be honest want to stab myself in the eye with a fork when people complain about angles like these (and they will), but it just didn’t come off as too funny, minus getting his wallet stolen in the end. Kramer is pretty much an idiot and Jesse Jackson is loving every money making minute of it. Cryme Tyme is just too funny for this kind of stuff.

Overall- C+ -- Overall I can’t really bag on this show TOO much. If you like the current product and the friendly ‘exhibition’ of wrestling, you probably loved the show. If not, then you probably feel like I do. The tag match was sensational and that makes two weeks in a row we’ve had a barn burner of a match on TV. In fact, the tag match was worlds better than anything on the last three pay per views, never mind the past few weeks. The rest was the usual stuff. This was a real set-up show so we’ll see where next week leads us, but for the most part, although a big improvement over the last few months of programming, I remain skeptical this is going to stay this way. This show gets the C+ almost for the tag match main event on it’s own.

WWE Champion: John Cena (Last Week: WWE Champion)—Another quiet week from the champion, although the Umaga feud has finally begun. At least we get a title program for the first time in two months.

Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy (Last Week: IC Champion)—Jeff Hardy can’t do a control segment for the life of him, but he’s an incredibly good tag team wrestler. If tonight doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what does. Easily the best tag match this year in the WWE, which I know isn’t saying much, but it had a big match feel to it and some great work from both teams. Kudos.

1.Umaga (Last Week: 1)—Umaga got a pretty good reaction tonight. Only thing was, the stare down with Cena didn’t. This could very well be a title win for Umaga. Never thought I’d ever say that in June, but low and behold, here we are.

4. Edge (Last Week: 3)—Edge seems to be the guy who’s left to carry a feud in which the opposite team has no interest in what’s going on. He had a great segment with Flair tonight and then tore the house down with an awesome main event match. Great night for Edge.

5. Randy Orton (Last Week: 5)—Really worked a great tag team main event match with Edge. Got over as a total jerk face despite DX being completely disinterested in their feud.

6. Carlito (Last Week: 7)—Comes out and makes his presence known during the Master’s match getting another big reaction. I’m looking forward to the Masters program in general. It never really ended or got ‘blown off’ in the way we probably would have liked to have had this spring. This’ll finish what should’ve been ended in the Spring.

7. Johnny Nitro (Last Week: 6)—Drops a bit after getting squashed out of his Survivor Series match and being reunited with Joey Mercury. I’m a little confused here though. Last time we saw them, they were fighting like cats and dogs.

8. Ric Flair (Last Week 8)—I can’t really move Flair down, if anything he’d probably be moved up. But due to his clear lack of direction on the show right now, I can’t justify moving him up.

9.Kenny (Last Week: 9)— Although Kenny’s Spirit Squad was more or less squashed completely off the air tonight, I thought Kenny really brought an energy to the match (and has been for a while now) that the others just don’t bring to the table. I think he’s got a legitimate future and all the time in the ring with guys like Triple H and Ric Flair has obviously paid dividends. The Squad may be done, but Kenny sure isn’t.

10. Mickie James (Last Week: NR)—I can’t justify keeping Shelton Benjamin in the top ten after not being on the air in forever. I can’t justify Chris Masters being in this spot because, well, he lost to a member of the commentary team. Matt Hardy isn’t on Raw per sae and other than that, no one’s even remotely active on the brand. So let’s give the nod to Mickie James who just won the women’s title. FINALLY, we get a feud with Victoria, who was put over as a mega-monster tonight after playing the bride’s maid, literally, the last three years to Trish and Lita. Finally, we get what we want.